2/2/16

IPlease come see us in the zine section of the LA Art Book Fair! Hot off the press is Box of Books, Vol. IX, a collaboration between Tiny Splendor and Darin Klein & Friends. Also available will be 2 Bag Pile-Up, a split photo zine by Darin Klein and Louis M Schmidt, and 3-Pack Jack, a collaborative set of three zines documenting a recent series of queer performance nights at the Akbar in LA.

Free and open to the public, Printed Matter’s LA Art Book
Fair is a unique event for artists’ books, art catalogs, monographs,
periodicals, and zines presented by over 250 international presses,
booksellers, antiquarians, artists, and independent publishers. Printed
Matter’s LA Art Book Fair 2015 saw over 34,700 visitors over the course of
three and a half days.

Hours and Location

Preview: Thursday, February 11, 6–9 pm

Printed Matter’s LA ART BOOK FAIR, free and open to the
public:
Friday February 12, 1pm-6pm
Saturday February 13, 11am-7pm
Sunday February 14, 11am-6pm

Join us at ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives for an
afternoon book launch event and courtyard soirée. Hottt off the press, 3-PACK
JACK is a titillating three-book set anthologizing a recent queer performance
series curated and hosted by Steven Reigns. Delight in performance photos by
Matt Baume alongside the monologues, scripts, and transcriptions from all of the performances at each event. A 3-PACK JACK set will be donated to ONE Archives as a continuum of
the history of gay publications in their holdings.

“Everything we’re supposed to hide, never to refer to,
sits up naked and wags its tail in the joyful pages of these three interrelated
books.” – Kevin Killian, author of Spreadeagle
and Variations on a Theme

"For those of us who missed the live performances,
we can now have it all! Get it! Take it! It's good stuff!" – Annie
Sprinkle, author of Post-Porn
Modernist

“…this juicy boxed set is a guidebook for where
asses/dicks/hearts have come from and where we might go next. Don’t leave home
without it!” – Tim Miller, performer and author of Shirts & Skin, Body Blows,
and 1001 Beds

Between April 2013 and April 2014, the poet and educator
Steven Reigns and his loose-knit gang of rebel Marys found an occasional home
on the dancefloor of queer-classic eastside nightspot Akbar. But these
gatherings weren’t dance parties; they were part of APT 3F, started by Andrew
J. Henkes and David LeBarron in 2011 to provide a venue for queer performance
in Silver Lake. For APT 3F, Akbar’s dancefloor is transformed into a proper theater
with a stage and formal seating; the house sound system, lights and projector
are used for such purposes as monologues, live musical numbers, and short films.

Reigns’ three nights for APT 3F – The (W)hole Story (April
7, 2013), Cum As You Are (October 13, 2013) and CockTales (April 27, 2014) – were
full-house affairs with something for (almost) everyone. JT’s Stockroom
provided cock rings for all attendees at CockTales; The Peter North Decorator
App was applied to projected photos of selected individuals who RSVPd to Cum As
You Are on Facebook; and activist, performer and Sister of Perpetual Indulgence
Christopher Lung used his ass to create a colorful artwork at The (W)hole
Story. Other highlights of the three evenings included an improvised monologue
by comedian and internet sensation Jonny McGovern leading into a performance of
his song about catching a cheating lover by recognizing his genitals on
Craigslist; heartfelt-to-hilarious monologues about gay relationships by
author/playwright Noel Alumit, musician/performer Martin Matamoros and aspiring
actor/writer Rich Yap; and many more brave moments of gay male sexuality laid
bare.

I was in attendance at all three of these performance nights. The
atmosphere of community and of hot, awkward, funny, honest and vulnerable
sexuality left an indelible impression. I proposed to Reigns that we anthologize the series of events and they set out to do so. We recruited
artist, bookmaker and queer ally Christopher Kardambikis to help. 3-PACK JACK is the result of a labor of love – from the organizer to the performers to the
book designer and producers.

Please join us for the 3-Pack Jack book launch party at ONE Archives at the USC Libraries – the largest repository of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ)
materials in the world. Founded in 1952, ONE Archives currently houses over two
million archival items including periodicals, books, film, video and audio
recordings, photographs, artworks, organizational records, and personal papers.
ONE Archives has been a part of the University of Southern California Libraries
since 2010. The event will also serve as
the closing party for the current exhibitions Transgender Hirstory in
99 Objects and Watchqueen.

1/26/15

"Darin… Under your inspiration, the artists assembled have totally rejiggered the concept of what a book can be, and brought it around to a new dimension via unlikely means, the use of what is an absurdly small canvas unfolded all out! It's like what Robert Creeley said at Black Mountain, "Form is never more than an extension of content."

– Kevin Killian, Box of Books, Vol. VII participant

Also on view, artworks by Box of Books, Vol. VIII participant Joshua Miller.